Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I have put on this final post my preliminary task which was my college magazine cover and a copy of my music magazine cover. When I look back at my preliminary task I see a great improvement made in how I have used my photoshop skills and how I have used the conventions I know are included in the music magazines i researched. 

The preliminary task was basically a way to see how well I was able to use photoshop, when i have now looked closely at my work at the beginning of the course I can instantly see from my preliminary task what I need to improve on and that i could only use the basic of photoshop whereas now from my music cover I see that I have improved greatly in the way that photoshop was used for my music magazine front over. Through a lot of research I see that it helped in order to create my research product. I used different tools creating different effects for my front cover image instead of just using a black and white image i find that the use of the black and white image on my preliminary piece made my work look a lot less appealing to an audience and would have worked better if i had used colour which I have found from learning the improvements of making my most recent piece of work. Also I have found that i could have improved my first piece (the college magazine) by incorporating more feature stories in order to attract more of an audience along with a background to my image linking the magazine cover more to a college instead of just a blank background. When I look closely at my college magazine I can see that I only had basic understanding on how making a cover and photoshop even worked. The way the font did not stand out and was not eye catching was another way that this piece could have been improved on. However there is advantages which came from creating this first magazine cover these include the way in which I was able to successfully realise how the music magazine I have created would turn out better in using multiple different tools and really putting effort in to researching important ways of making a product which went with the genre, looked professional and appealed to a mass audience. From doing the preliminary task my knowledge of computers and software to create pieces like I have done as my knowledge of these things has improved greatly and has been used to then create my final piece of work which are my front cover, contents and double page spread. 

I think that if there was any part of my magazine I would change it would be the front cover image as I feel that the image would work better if her eyes were showing as it would mean the audience would possibly find it more appealing but on the other hand from asking people their opinions of my cover I have found that people,think there is an air of mystery to the way the image is on the cover. Also I would move around the placing of the feature stories to both sides of the front cover to make the left side look a bit more open and give the right side a bit more on it however again this may include changing the image which is mainly on the right side. 

I find that this part of my coursework has worked out a lot better than my preliminary task as the preliminary task did not go as well I had planned due to my lack of knowledge using photoshop. But even though there are multiple mistakes I made in my preliminary task I think the mistakes have helped me improve in order to create the higher standard of a cover that I have now making my music magazine cover. I learnt how to follow the conventions and colour scheme, how to make the cover really stand out and appeal to and audience and I have improved the way I am able to use photoshop.

In order to create the music magazine I have brought together my research and knowledge which I have recently learnt to create a final piece which shows larger understanding of the music industry. Also looking at fashion and make up has makeup has made the way that i have made my final piece really work especially when choosing the way my artist was going to dress and do their makeup in order to make the images look more like an alternative rock artist. I feel as if I have learnt a wide range of new skills from both of these tasks either computer knowledge or knowledge about the music industry itself.